Archive for the 'Elton John' Tag Under 'Soundcheck' Category

These Grammy Week benefit events just keep getting bigger and bigger. Case in point: the lineup for the next MusiCares Person of the Year gala, this time saluting Bruce Springsteen on Feb. 8 at the L.A. Convention Center.

As in the past, the roster is a mix of fellow legends, including previous honorees Elton John, Sting and Neil Young, as well as upstarts new to the party, like Alabama Shakes and Mumford & Sons.

You can't go – the pricey 23rd charity bash sold out weeks ago, with proceeds supporting MusiCares' emergency financial assistance and addiction recovery programs. What's worth getting mildly excited about is the inevitable DVD release, although it typically takes more than a year for that memento to surface.

In 2007, for his 60th birthday, Elton John put together a bash at Madison Square Garden (his record-setting 60th performance at the arena) and subsequently released the epic 35-song concert on DVD.

He opened with "Sixty Years On," naturally, played all the usual hits, and of course closed with "Your Song," but as with that lead-off song he snapfishcouponsnow.net dusted off tons of great stuff: "Ballad of a Well-Known Gun," "Hercule," "Holiday Inn," "Better Off Dead," "Empty Garden." Surely among the greatest of his 3,000-plus shows.

Nothing nearly so elaborate will be happening to mark his 65th year today, March 25. So, similar to how we celebrated Bob Dylan's career last week, we thought we'd help ring peppermintbenefits.org in the occasion with a 65-pic look back on Sir Elton's life, from aspiring breakout songwriter at the dawn of the '70s to one of the world's most recognizable and honored entertainment icons.

It's hard to stuff a legendary life into such a narrow package, and some photos we'd like to have included (one of him with Ryan dunkinsdonuts.net White, for instance) weren't entirely at our disposal. But along the way we've tried touch on his many highs and occasional lows, the tragedies he's endured and the comebacks he's mounted.

Click here or the photo above to go back in time with forever young Reggie Dwight.

“Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” and “When You Wish Upon a Star.” “The Way You Look Tonight” and “The Way We Were.” “Moon River” and “Mona Lisa.” “Up Where We Belong,” “Over the Rainbow” and “Under the Sea.”

Which two tunes might join such illustrious company when the Academy Award for best song is handed out next Sunday? A musical-theater piece from The Muppets and a hip-shaker from Rio, neither of which deserves to win the accolade so nearly uncontested.

As ardent Oscar watchers immediately spotted when nominations were revealed last month, there are more egregious errors to be found this time than the best picture race being short a flick or Michael Fassbender and Albert Brooks getting overlooked for acting nods.

For the first time in 78 years of singling out cinematic ditties, there are only two selections competing for best song: “Man or Muppet,” a comical bit of catharsis from Flight of the Conchords co-creator Bret McKenzie (above); and “Real in Rio,” essentially the main theme for that colorful animated bore, music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown, lyrics by Siedah Garrett.

Bafflingly missing the cut were not one but all five Golden Globe nominees in the same category. That batch included tracks performed by Elton John and Lady Gaga (“Hello Hello” from Gnomeo & Juliet), Mary J. Blige (“The Living Proof” from The Help), Chris Cornell (“The Keeper” from Machine Gun Preacher), Sinéad O'Connor (“Lay Your Head Down” from Albert Nobbs) and Madonna (“Masterpiece” from W./E.).

Ellie Goulding, the latest entry in the Adele/Duffy British-female-singer sweepstakes, has been on a roll. Her debut album, Lights, topped the English charts and she scored a gig at probably the highest profile show of the year, the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. And her headlining U.S. tour, which ended Thursday night at the Wiltern before a performance Friday at Outside Lands 2011 in San Francisco, has been playing to enthusiastic packed houses.

To put it another way, Ellie Goulding is going to be big. Wang Chung big.

Yes, that's a joke, but it's not a putdown. These days, writing songs that fit seamlessly into mainstream movies is not a talent to be sneezed at. It's simply that the first three songs of Goulding's hour-long set would have sounded right at home on the soundtrack of the next Twilight movie.

Her first disc (released here by Cherrytree/Interscope) is an engaging mix of pop, folk, post-punk and electronic production. Live, the sound leans toward synthesized '80s pop: the tempos are goosed-up, the beats are crisper, and Goulding sounds more urgent. Like so many of her contemporaries, she's studied her Dusty Springfield, but she also bears traces of Tracey Thorn (Everything But the Girl) and Elizabeth Fraser (Cocteau Twins).

“Under the Sheets,” the opener, set the tone of the evening, mixing eroticism and vulnerability. With drums pounding and two keyboard players adding brittle filigrees, she taunts her lover “I've seen you in a fight - you lost” before admitting “we're under the sheets - and you're killing me.” When she finds that balance, Goulding impresses. “Animal” starts out as swirling, Kate Bush romanticism but ends up a tribal stomp with everyone on stage pounding a drum; “Your Biggest Mistake” is a cooed declaration of independence.

July 27th, 2011, 11:35 am by KELLI SKYE FADROSKI, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Kid Rock has absolutely no plans for early retirement. But the self-proclaimed “American Bad Ass” and “Rock 'n' Roll Jesus,” does admit that now that he's hit 40, he approaches life a little differently.

Born Robert James Ritchie in Romeo, Mich., Rock has successfully blended rap with Southern rock for more than a decade, maturing into a crossover country songwriter as well. His inescapable 2008 hit “All Summer Long,” built on Lynyrd Skynyrd's “Sweet Home Alabama” and Warren Zevon's “Werewolves of London,” spanned across several genres and could be heard on pop, rock and country radio.

“It's really tough being the responsible one,” Rock says of sharing the trek with Crow. “I mean, it's like after the shows Sheryl's out with her whiskey bottles, throwing the TVs out of the hotel. I'm babysitting the kids and I'm like, ‘Sheryl, keep it down, we have a show tomorrow.'”

If Elton John, Céline Dion, Cher and even Barry Manilow can have their own Vegas showcases, why not Dolly Parton? While that question was never asked during the iconic singer's debut performances at the Hollywood (or, as she put it, “Dollywood”) Bowl this weekend - ostensibly promoting her feisty new self-released album Better Day - her two-hour performance could easily move from the concert hall to the showroom.

A mix of autobiography, Opry broadcast, revival meeting, Hee-Haw and greatest-hits revue, the show presents Parton as not only a great American original but also the inheritor of the tradition of entertainers determined to cross lines of genre, age, class and political affiliation.

In lesser hands, it's a mix that could pander and turn cloying. But Parton, 65, is no less “authentic” for being decked out in rhinestones and corn-pone humor, for while her set includes medleys, cover versions and pop hits, she never loses sight of her roots in country, bluegrass and gospel. Both in song and commentary, at the Bowl and throughout her varied career, she has preached for music as the balm that gets you through hard times.

The evening's first act was the stronger of the two. Built around a loosely constructed autobiographical monologue, it's a deeply felt (and oft-told) story of growing up poor in Tennessee's Smokey Mountains, making her way to Nashville and turning into an international star while bucking the country music establishment.

There are moments of Vegas (or, to be more geographically precise, Branson) glitz, but her best songs, such as “Jolene,” “Coat of Many Colors” and “Tennessee Mountain Home,” were given the beautifully modulated readings they deserve. This is music of great feeling, faith and determination, among the finest America has produced, and the first act climaxes with a sturdy declaration of belief, “He's Everything.”

The air was a little chilly at the Hollywood Bowl Saturday night, a state not usually felt at a Sarah McLachlan show. Booked with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra as part of the Bowl's Weekend Spectacular series, she was not entirely playing to her usual audience. While the singer-songwriter's shows tend to be undiluted lovefests, the audience for the second of the Canadian chanteuse's two performances this weekend was decidedly restrained, if not to say cool.

Playing to a two-thirds-full amphitheater -- a more than respectable turnout, which had to please McLachlan after last year's troubled Lilith revival -- she turned on the charm and, by the end of the evening, had won over much of the crowd.

There was certainly no lack of enthusiasm from the orchestra, who preceded McLachlan for both halves of the 90-minute show. Thomas Wilkins, an affable presence at the podium whose enthusiasm for the music was obvious, gushed over McLachlan, predicting that her catalog would stand the test of time and be remembered alongside classics such as Gershwin's “I've Got Rhythm,” “Embraceable You,” Alex North & Hy Zaret's hit for the Righteous Brothers, “Unchained Melody,” and the relatively unknown “Beautiful Galathea” by Franz von Suppé, a briskly played, diverting bit of mid-19th century Viennese fluff. Engaging and melodic, it's lush, crowd-pleasing music that doesn't make many demands on ears.

That description also could apply to McLachlan. For all her joking that her songs linger on depressing subjects, her songs are ultimately optimistic. Their recurring narrative is that she survived — nay, thrived! — through such bad times to create this music.

Smartly opening her set with “Building a Mystery,” her biggest hit, and front-loading the show with more familiar songs such as “I Will Remember You” (from the 1995 movie The Brothers McMullen), McLachlan worked to pull the audience in, with even some sodden, accusatory tunes such as “Forgiveness” buffeted by sympathetic orchestrations.

February 28th, 2011, 9:15 pm by KELLI SKYE FADROSKI, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

When Lee Rocker went into the studio last year to record new material, the only agenda the ex-Stray Cats bassist had in mind was to make use of all the instruments he's amassed over the decades: cello, ukulele, mandolin and autoharp, to name a few. So he began by playing familiar songs reminiscent of his childhood, ones he often has stuck in his head.

Before he knew it, he had cut an EP's worth of work, including renditions of the Beatles' “Come Together,” Elton John's “Honky Cat,” the Allman Brothers Band's “Rambling Man” and Eddie Rabbitt's country crossover hit “Drivin' My Life Away.”

“The initial thing was that I just wanted to have some fun and play these instruments,” Rocker says. “I go into the studio pretty often, and I found myself returning to this project over and over again. In terms of creativity, this was a very different thing, I found, than working on a record of original music, which I've done so many times.

“I've done covers over the years but I haven't really done a collection of them like this. After being a recording musician for 30 years, it was a chance to be a little artsy, like painting with a different palette and creating some different sounds.”

To usher in the release of his new set, The Cover Sessions (due March 15), Rocker will perform these remakes as well as some Stray Cats staples and selections from his solo repertoire Saturday night at the Galaxy Theatre in Santa Ana.

February 13th, 2011, 10:11 pm by BEN WENER, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

It should go down as one of the most surprising evenings ever at the Grammy Awards.

And for once it had less to do with performances -- including from Lady Gaga, whose unconventional arrival in a fiberglass cocoon led to a remarkably conventional routine -- and everything to do with who won and lost.

Rap icon Eminem led the Grammy pack with 10 nominations going into the 53rd annual ceremony, held throughout Sunday at Staples Center and (in a pre-telecast gathering) next door at L.A. Live. No one seriously thought he'd break the record for most wins (eight) in a single night, a gold standard jointly held by Michael Jackson and Carlos Santana.

But no one thought he'd go home with so few trophies, either.

In all, Marshall Mathers managed only two wins: best rap album (for Recovery) and best rap solo (for “Not Afraid”). Despite an acclaimed and robust rebound that led to last year's biggest-selling album with 3 million-plus sold, Eminem was once again shut out of the top prizes by both a stunning dark-horse victory and an altogether more genial candidate. His fans will undoubtedly consider this a replay of 2001, when Steely Dan supposedly robbed him of album of the year.

January 15th, 2011, 12:54 pm by GEORGE A. PAUL, FOR THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Some of the top names in smooth jazz performed Friday night during Yamaha's Red Hot Sax Nite II, held at the Anaheim Marriott Grand Ballroom and hosted by Dave Koz (right), who also performed. Serving as musical director was bassist extraordinaire Nathan East, known for his extensive superstar session resumé (spanning Eric Clapton and Elton John to Sting and Stevie Wonder) as well as a stint in Fourplay.

The two-hour concert opened with “The Third Degree,” then Koz joined the four-piece house band for “Put the Top Down,” from his latest album Hello Tomorrow, where it's an all-star version featuring Lee Ritenour, Sheila E., Ray Parker Jr., Jonathan Butler and Brian Culbertson. This rendition found Koz trading punchy sax riffs with guitarist Ross Bolton and impressively holding a sustained note.

“If you don't like the saxophone, you might as well leave,” he warned with a smile, before introducing a succession of players that included Keith Loftus, Jeff Kashiwa (whose keening melody informed “Blue Jeans”), Mindi Abair (she brought plenty of visual and musical sizzle) and Jeff Coffin. Whenever the all collaborated, their cumulative talents raised the show's energy level several notches.

Two longtime jazz veterans -- trumpeter Bobby Shew and trombonist Andy Martin -- paired up on Billy Strayhorn's dreamy jazz standard “Lush Life.” Coffin, a member of Béla Fleck and the Flecktones and recent recruit by Dave Matthews Band, displayed his aggressive solo style on the New Orleans-flavored “Tall & Lanky” and free jazz of “Turiya.” East even scatted a bit.